b'DAY THREESaturday morning, we explored the unique wines produced in thefoothills surrounding the Napa Valley; the Howell Mountain andMount Veeder appellations. We started our tour at OShaughnessyEstate Winery where proprietor Betty OShaughnessy gave us a 9 fascinating tour of the winery followed by lunch on the terrace overlooking the spectacular scenery near Angwin. She told us she fell in love with the Napa Valley after her first visit in 1975. By2003 she had purchased additional vineyards on Howell Mountainand Mount Veeder, adding a cave, and winery. These mountainCabernet Sauvignon wines are garnering tremendous interest in the wine world.We wound our way back to our hotel stopping en route for a tourand tasting at the exquisite Hall Wines where in 2005, Craig andKathryn Hall unveiled a state-of-the-art winery amid the legendarySacrashe Vineyard in the hills of Rutherford that is dedicated tomaking single vineyard and limited-production wines.AntonioGalloni observes, . . . a meticulous approach to vineyard and cellar10work, including organic farming, native fermentations and malos,and the avoidance of fining and/or filtration informs wines of truepedigree and personality. The Hall wines are unapologetically big,powerful and exceptionally well balanced.Our final evening in Napa was a glorious feast of wine, food,and dancing at the home of WineGeese patrons Pepper and MichaelJackson. We were joined by Sean Larkin of Larkin Wines and weretreatedtohisrecentlybottledLarkinPort2008.BettyOShaughnessy of OShaughnessy Estate Winery also joined us anddelightedeveryonewiththeOShaughnessyEstateCabernet Sauvignon 2009, Howell Mountain. We were pleased to see once11 again Joanne DePuy who helped facilitate the famous internationalblind tasting in Paris in 1976, known as the Judgement of Paris andMarimar Torres whose Marimar EstateBonitas Hill Chardonnay2009, Russian River Valley was simply delicious.The evening was capped off by dancing and singing with theadded pleasure of Dan Mulvihill who transported us to Ireland withhis rendition of Danny Boy so beautifully backed by the BlackBrothers, who provided the evenings music. Pepper and MichaelJackson, the most gracious of WineGeese hosts, provided a perfectending to a glorious trip.12connect2014 | 62'